No happily ever after for you
by ivygrah
Summary: Oneshot. Canon. James and Lily were supposed to be a fairy tale couple. But it was nothing like it. Did they love each other or was it a spell that brought them together? Maybe Amortentia potion? Was anything of that fairy tale thruth at all?


**No happily ever after for you.  
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**Summary: **James and Lily were supposed to be a fairy tale couple. But it was nothing like it. Did they love each other or was it a spell that brought them together? Maybe Amortentia potion? Was anything of that fairy tale thruth at all?

**Disclaimer:** Not mine.

**Warning:** Mentions of GW/HP and too many pronouns. And slightly depressing mood.

* * *

><p>"What?" He exclaimed, his eyes wide.<p>

"You have no choice in the matter." She stated, crossing her legs. The two of them were sitting in the drawing room, the fire was flaming in the fireplace though it was summer and there was no need for any additional heat. There were heating charms for that, after all.

"But... Why?" He wanted to protest, to shout even, after all, he never expected something like this from _her._

"What did you think I was doing all this time? Being a _house - wife_?" She made an unlady-like snort and continued not waiting for his reply. "I was doing research. Lots of it and lots of equations. Which I know means nothing to you since you didn't even sing up for Arithmancy instead choosing the useless subjects." She scolded him. His brown eyes were wide and his expression indignant but her glare shut him up.

"However to educated people, numbers can answer a lot of questions. We don't have much time until _he_ returns so I won't bother explaining how I managed to find out what I did using just data from St. Mungos and historic scrolls. It's amazing where being a part of _light family_ can get you in..."

James couldn't believe his ears. Surely, it's Imperius curse... Otherwise everything he though was truth about her, about his fammily, was all lies. He tried to contain his hurt expression but she noticed it.

"It's better this way. Trust me." Her voice hard.

"How is it better? Marriage is supposed to be _special_, not _arranged_!" His view of the world was crumbling the longer they were talking.

"Do you want to have _squibs_ as children, James? Because _I_ won't stand it!" She exclaimed standing up and started pacing.

"There's seventy-five percent for you to father a squib with a pureblood. Where as with a first generation witch the chance is almost nothing. And since most pureblood families will continue intermarrying, there will come time when all purebloods will be inbred squibs with birth defects. And they will need _this_ family, because it will be the only family with an old pureblood name _and_ fresh blood." She explained her glaze fixated on him. James gulped ueasily.

"What about Voldemort? He will take over and all your plans will be brought to naught!" he exclaimed hoping she will agree with him and drop this _thing_ entirely.

"Dark Lords come and go. Dumbledore will take care of this one, it would be bad for his image to do nothing about it." She stated sounding indifferent as if Voldemort was a miniscule inconvenience.

"So this is all about power play? Is that why you got _married_?" James asked hoping to get negative answer or wake up from this.. this _nightmare_. She just laughed, shaking her head as if incredulous.

"_Everything_ is power play. Why did you ask questions you already know answers to?" She fell quit for a moment, taking out a watch from her pocket.

"He'll be here soon. But we still have time for the unbreakable vow." These words shocked James more than anything she said tonight.

"An Unbreakable vow? Do you _hate_ me? Don't you trust me at all?" He felt angry, betrayed and disappointed.

"I don't hate you... In any case, the vow has nothing to do with you, James. It is just a necessary ensurance. It's for your own good." She stated motioning him to join their hands, summoning a trusted house elf to witness the bonding ceremony.

* * *

><p>James and Remus were sitting in their common room, doing homework while Sirius and Peter were gone somewhere to create mayhem, no doubt. james would have eagerly gone along but he had to catch up with his Potion's homework. Slughorn had it out for him every since he and Sirius had exploded Slughorn's favorite classroom decoration - a creepy statue, no doubt a gift from some famous well-connected former student.<p>

But instead of concentrating on his half-finished potion's essay, James's brown eyes were following the red-headed prefect.

"Say Remus," He addressed one of his best friends who was working on his runes homework with admirable presision. "you're a prefect along with Evans. Is it true that she's the best in our year?" There were rumours but one could never know. After all, rumours also said that Sirius Black was still a virgin and was saving him for marriage or that Remus Lupin was just a normal _human_ teenager with a bad-tempered rabbit.

Remus glanced at James then at red head his eyes were following and arched an eye brow.

"What's with the sudden interest in Lily?" He inquired thinking that if James planned pranking her then he'll have to do this without his help. Of course that won't stop him as Sirius and Peter wouldn't hesitate to help him. While Remus couldn't betray the trust of a fellow prefect, his friends had no such obligation.

"Oh, you know. Just curious." James answered looking at Evans and then at Remus, his gaze serious. Which was indication that something was going on. As Remus was intelligent his mind immediately supplied an explanation.  
>"<em>No<em>... You _like_ her?" Remus whispered surprised leaning over the table. After all, James and Sirius often teased and annoyed Evans or called her names because of her friendship with a slimy Slytherin. James let a smile slip but didn't say anything as he was waiting for Remus to answer his question first. Remus sighed, rubbing his temples.

"Well, she's not a braggart but her grades _are_ extremely good. She let it slip during one of patrols that her last year arithmancy exam was the highest comparing everyone else's. And both Flitwick and Slughorn are always hushing about her, I'm sure you'd noticed that." Remus said.

"Hm..." James answered, nodding to himself. "I thought so." His words seemed oddly decisive as if he'd just made an important decision over something.

* * *

><p>Lily never expected her life to take such a turn. It started with finding out she was a witch and befriending Severus. Then it was her first year at Hogwarts, befriending some peers, alienating or starting to despise others.<p>

James Potter, a bigoted idiot, a bully with superiority complex was one of those who made her life at Hogwarts not only difficult but sometimes even miserable enough for her to consider going back to muggle world.

But she didn't. Slytherins were far more dangerous and hateful than James Potter and because of the war that was occurring in the magical world, she as a muggle born needed to know how to protect herself and her muggle family.

Then came Lily's fifth year and all her previous notions were thrown through the window. James Potter started _courting_ her non-stop. At first she thought he was just joking around or doing this as a sport to see if she'd break and agree to date him only to be dumped in a second, but then she realised that Potter had a genuine crush on her.

Around the same time she also realised that her best friend Severus was like every other Slytherin. A back stabbing liar.

It took Lily all the summer before her sixth year to make peace with all of it. She decided to pay more attention to her other friends and ignore Potter and his advances completely because whether genuine or not Lily promised herself she would never date a bully.

And then came Lily's seventh and last year at Hogwarts. She was awarded for her academic achievements with a head girl's badge and was shocked when she found out that James Potter, one of most irresponsible people she'd ever met, became the head boy.

This was a huge shock to her, just like Potter's respective and mature behavior. Lily contemplated about him being hit by Imperius curse or hitting his head with a bludger too hard but when months came by and he wasn't going back to his rule-breaking ways she decided James Potter grew up for real.

So when James asked Lily if she wanted to go grab a butter beer during one Hogsmeade weekend, she agreed, though stunned by her own answer. And from there on they started dating, James making his intentions scarily clear.

He was _serious_ about her.

And that's how she ended up with a ring on her finger and another name add to her own.

* * *

><p>She was visiting her husband's vault (well, now it <em>obviously<em> was a joint one). She needed some money for herself and couldn't make a withdrawal because the goblins would document it. She had gained a bit of a gambling problem recently and needed funds to cover her expenses.

The gold in the vault always awed her. She wasn't used to this wealth and had little idea what to do with it which was how gambling became a hobby of hers. At least she wasn't drinking, doing drugs or _cheating_ on her husband to escape the routine like other wives. She told herself it was okay. Better for everyone.

So now, after she collected some galleons in her purse with engorged inside, she was taking a look around. There were few boxes that belonged to her husband's parents but the two of them had avoided those because it was obviously had for him.

As she was walking around the vault, carefully evading the mountains of coins, a small wooden chest caught her eyes. It was positioned between a few old, dusty books and looked unremarkable except for the fact that she felt a waded 'notice-me-not' charm on it. So, naturally, being the adventurous red head she was, she went to open it to see why it was concealed by magic. But the chest didn't open even with advanced unlocking charm.

Someone went lengths to ensure it wasn't opened which was why she absolutely had to find out what's inside.

It took her sometime but after a while she thought of using underpowered _Reducto_ to it's lock. And after careful spell-work the chest opened, revealing a scroll of parchment. The parchment was yellowed, obviously a few decades old.

She was a bit disappointed but then took the scroll out and read what was written on it. Dread and fear gripped her as she discovered what was written there.

"No one can ever know this." She muttered shaking her head in disbelief.

She put the scroll back in box and pointed her wand at it.

"Incendio." And it burned, making the truth into dust.

* * *

><p>Harry woke up <em>again<em>. Ginny was having another nightmare and muttering nonsense, her limbs moving on their own accord. He shook her awake, both annoyed and worried. They eyes connected as she opened them.

"Sorry." She muttered. "Go back to sleep, I'll go get some Dreamless Drought." Ginny said and slinked away to the kitchen.

Harry's face hit the pillow and he fell asleep immediately, having no idea how uneasy his wife felt.

* * *

><p><em>I don't love her. I tried. I pretended, I acted. It took some time but eventually I started caring about her.<em>

_But I never loved her._

_I thought I would pretend it's nothing like it is. That it's real and I'm not a selfish pig or, perhaps, a weakling for doing this, for deceiving her._

_The truth is that I am more of a Black than I thought I was. Of course, I could say it was my mother's fault. That she coerced me into making the vow to marry a muggleborn girl as soon as I finished Hogwarts against my will and I, too, was a victim of her power play.  
><em>

_But I'm not. I chose a sham for marriage because I couldn't bear the thought of having a squib for a kid._

_I know my charms will make sure that Lily will never read this and I'm glad. As long as she doesn't know about it she can't get hurt, right?_

_She was a perfect choise - muggleborn, pretty and scarily intelligent. And also a firm believer of what's right and wrong._

_The guilt sickens me. Especially now that we have a baby on it's way._

_It's not fair for me and it's not fair for her. And it's not fair for our kid, either..._

_One of the charms I put on this scroll is based on blood which means that whoever you are, you're not a Potter._

_Which means you're either a friend or a lover._

_Whoever you are, I hope it's real for you.  
><em>

* * *

><p>In her dreams, Ginny Weasley - Potter was reliving reading the scroll that contained.. the truth about her dead in-laws over and over again.<p>

_I hope it's real for you_. James Potter's words were ringing in her head, mocking her and feeding her insecurities. Was _her _marriage real? Or was it just a safe choise?

"What I don't know can't hurt me." Ginny mumbled as she decided to forget it ever happened.


End file.
